Fundamental Concepts in Political Science

1. Fundamental Concepts in Political Science Douglas Brown Pols 222 / St Francis Xavier Winter 2013

2. Fundamental Concepts of Politics • What is Politics? • The Nature of Political Power • The State • Government • Legitimacy • Democracy

3. What is Politics? • Learning to live together • Authoritative allocation of scarce resources • Civilized struggle in a defined community • Exercising power • Drawing lines between the public and the private

4. The Nature of Political Power • Legitimate authority • Backed by coercion (police, armed force) • Exercise of influence on community decisions • The many ways in which decisions are made and implemented in a community

5. The State • The entire apparatus of authoritative decision-making institutions • The organized monopoly of political power • Bounded by a defined territory • …But what about power sharing? Federalism?

6. Government • Generic word for the main institutions of the State • In Canada, we have federal, provincial, territorial, local and aboriginal governments • In parliamentary systems, the ministry commanding the confidence of the House • Governance is the act of governing, even if not by government

7. Legitimacy • The rules, institutions and decisions of the State have the consent of the governed • Where Governments ultimately derive their power • Some sources of legitimacy: • Traditional leadership • Divine right • Military conquest • Democratic process

8. Brooks’ definition on democracy • “a political system based on the formal political equality of all citizens, in which there is a realistic possibility that voters can replace the government, and in which certain basic rights and freedoms are protected.”

9. Democracy • Applying notions of equality to authoritative allocation • Liberal democracy: formal equality of citizens • Social democracy: towards actual equality of living standards • Economic democracy: workplace decision-making • Majority rules, but with major constraints such as individual and minority rights

10. Forms of Democratic Expression • Direct democracy • Referendum, recall • Representative democracy • Parliament, city council, etc. • Participatory democracy • Public consultation, partnerships with social groups • Deliberative democracy • Ordinary citizens do the deliberating, not parliamentarians

11. Political Values • What is our notion of the “good” when it comes to our political community? • What are our values ? • Freedom? • Equality? • Participation? • Solidarity? • Recognition?

12. Identity Politics • What is our political community? • Traditional notions of political community • Class, caste • Religion • Ethnicity, race, tribe • Nation

13. Canadian Identities • Creative and destructive tension within historical and newer sets of “fault lines”. • Four older fault lines: • English/ French • British (Canadian) / American • Region • Religion (Catholic/Protestant)

14. New and Emerging Creators of Political Identity and Values • Aboriginal nationalism • Multiculturalism, visible minorities • “post-material” identities (e.g. “Greens”) • Gender, sexual orientation • New economic realities (e.g. “income polarity”) • Urban/suburban/rural